This Privacy Statement applies to the public Web sites of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council (collectively "The National Academies"). We recognize the importance of online privacy, and we strive to minimize the amount of personally identifying information we maintain. Specific information about our privacy practices relating to information collected through our Web sites are as follows.

Information Collected and Stored Automatically

We record the following information automatically for all Web site visitors: The IP address from which you access the Internet; the date and time; the Internet address of the Web site from which you linked directly to our site; the name of the file or the words you searched; and the browser used to access our site.

Some public areas of our site use customized JavaScript code to record this same information in a statistics log.

We use this information to measure the number of visitors to the various sections of our site and identify system performance or problem areas. We may also use this information to help us expand the coverage of our Web sites and to make the Web sites more useful.

Cookies

A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's hard drive containing information useful for the user's Web interactions. We do not use cookies to store personal data nor do we link non-personal information stored in cookies with personal data about specific individuals. The National Academies uses cookies primarily to provide general internal analytics. Some optional or customizable features of our Web site require that the user's browser accept a cookie. The cookie information does not include personal data such as name, age, phone number, e-mail address or mailing address. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. If you would prefer, you can set your browser to reject cookies.

Information You Submit to Message Boards and Other Public Areas

Information submitted to public message boards and other public interactive web pages is available to the general public. The e-mail address of users who post such information will be available to anyone who browses or uses the message area. The National Academies does not control the sending or receiving of e-mail messages as a result of postings to our Web sites.

Sharing Personal Data with Third Parties

If a user accesses a webpage on the National Academies website to subscribe to one of our publications, register to gain access to specific areas of the National Academies' Web sites, purchase a book or other product, or requests to be added to an electronic mailing list maintained by the National Academies (“Subscription Webpage”), we may ask for contact information such as name, address and e-mail address. We may store this information and may use it to contact you. Your participation and the provision of such information are entirely voluntary.

The use or disclosure by the National Academies of such information you provide on or in response to a Subscription Webpage (such as making subscription lists available to others) is subject to the terms and conditions, if any, set forth on each Subscription Webpage, and unless stated otherwise on the Subscription Webpage, such information you provide is not shared with third parties except as provided below. You will be able to opt-out of communications from our partners.

The National Academies may share personal data that is disclosed on or in response to a Subscription Webpage with its consultants or affiliates for internal business purposes and may also disclose personal data if such data is required by law.

Technical Feedback

We may request technical information regarding the operation and functioning of our Web sites from users through surveys. Survey participation is completely voluntary and the user has a choice whether or not to disclose any information. Information requested may include contact information (such as name and e-mail address) and demographic information (such as zip code and age). Technical feedback received is used to respond to the user's question or comment and to improve our Web sites. Personally identifiable data submitted by the user for this purpose is not used for other purposes.

For Parents and Guardians

There are activities on the National Academies Web sites that children can participate in without having to share personally identifiable information. For those activities that may require personally identifiable information, we will not condition a child's participation on the disclosure of more personally identifiable information than is reasonably necessary to administer the activity. We may collect the child's name and online contact information to obtain parental consent or provide parents with notice, respond directly to a child's specific request, or to comply with legal requirements. Unless we indicate otherwise on the specific Web site in question and obtain prior parental consent, personally identifiable information collected from children will be used solely by us or our agents and will not be sold or otherwise transferred to third parties. We do not monitor public areas of our Web site for use by minors, and minors and parents should use caution when participating in such activities.

Public Access Records

Electronic comments submitted in connection with or in response to a request for input in connection with a study committee created by the National Academies will become part of the public record of that project unless indicated on the specific Web page in question. Participation is completely voluntary and the user has a choice whether or not to disclose any information.

Links

Our Web pages may contain links to other Websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other Web sites. Websites maintained by third parties may collect information and use it in a way inconsistent with this privacy statement. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our Web sites and to read carefully the privacy statements of each Web site they visit.

Financial Information

The National Academies recognizes the importance of protecting the financial information of users of this Web site that may be collected in connection with the purchase of books, periodicals, or other products, or when making a charitable contribution. Such on-line transactions may require credit card and personal contact information. We will use your credit card number only to process the payment and we will not use it for any other purpose. Specific security provisions may be detailed on specific Web pages. If you complete a financial transaction, the financial data is stored and shared with the necessary third parties to complete the transaction.

Changes to this Statement

The National Academies reserve the right to change this privacy statement at any time. We will use data in accordance with the privacy statement under which any data has been collected. Questions should be directed toWebPrivacy@nas.edu.